Europe
This was one of the earliest overviews of the impact of austerity measures on the public sector and in particular on the pay and conditions of public sector workers. It provides details of the pay cuts and freezes imposed by many governments and highlights the important role that collective bargaining plays in maintaining pay levels and so providing an important economic impetus at a time of deepening recession.
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Workers across the public and private sectors took four hours of strike action on 17 December to call for government action to resolve a crisis that could lead to 1750 job losses at the TEVA pharmaceuticals multinational in Israel, part of a plan to cut 14000 jobs worldwide. The action was called by the Histadrut confederation which says that the company had benefited from favourable tax arrangements and that the government should intervene to protect the workers whose jobs are under threat.
